The present invention relates generally to management of cabling and in particular to the management of data and voice communications cabling which is terminated to patch panels, racks and the like. In even greater particularity, the present invention is directed to an integral one-piece patch panel and cable management tray assembly which is formed from a single sheet of material.
In the telecommunications and premise wiring industry, it is commonplace for large numbers of connectors to be loose at a single location, for example, on a patch panel. Typically large numbers of cables will be connected to the connectors. It is desirable for the cables to be orderly arranged at the rear of the panel to make removal of a single given cable easy and to avoid an unsightly mess of cable. It is also important that the mass of the cable does not cause the cable connections to the connectors to become overstrained. To that end, it is known to provide a cable management tray across the back of the patch panel which allows cable organization and strain relief However, such combinations of a patch panel and cable management tray have been typically manufactured from two separate sheets of material, the patch panel front and cable management tray being separately formed then attached together using conventional techniques. This manufacturing technique is somewhat difficult and costly, and on some on occasions, may be unreliable.
Accordingly, in view of the foregoing drawbacks with currently available patch panel and cable management tray assemblies, an improved integral patch panel and cable management tray assembly and method are needed to overcome difficulties in manufacturing and to provide benefits of costs and reliability.
In accordance with the purposes of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention addresses the above needs by providing an integral one-piece cable management assembly comprising a substantially planar front patch panel; a cable management tray extending rearwardly of the front patch panel; and securement arms extending between the cable management tray and the patch panel for reinforcing the formed assembly structure wherein the patch panel, the cable management tray and the securement arms are formed from a single sheet of material. In a preferred embodiment, the cable management tray extends rearwardly from a lower edge of the front patch panel, the cable management tray including a base portion horizontally positioned at the lower edge of the patch panel and a cable management support portion attached to the base portion. The front patch panel further comprises a flange extending rearwardly of an upper edge of the front patch panel and generally parallel to the base portion. The flange includes end portions which are bent to lie generally perpendicular to the plane of the flange to provide securement elements to which the securement arms are secured. The securement arms are positioned at each end of the cable management support portion respectively and are each folded to lie in a plane normal to the planes of the front patch panel and the cable management support portion, each arm being secured to a corresponding securement element. Preferably, the securement arms are welded to the securement elements.
A method of manufacturing an integral one-piece cable management assembly is also provided by the present invention which, in a preferred embodiment, comprises the steps of providing a sheet of formable material; forming holes in the sheet material to accept cables and fasteners; bending the sheet material to provide a substantially planar front patch panel portion and a cable management tray extending rearwardly of the front patch panel portion; further bending the sheet material to provide securement arms; and securing a free end of each of the securement arms to the sheet material to provide reinforcement of the formed assembly. Preferably, the free end of each of the securement arms is secured to the front patch panel portion by spot welding. The method may further include the steps of bending an upper edge of the front patch panel portion to create a rearwardly extending flange; bending each end of the flange to create end support portions lying normal to both the front patch panel portion and the flange; and securing each of the end support portions to an associated securement arm. These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.